Next-Wave Ezine > church & culture

risk
By Joel McClure

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What if we did things because of what will be? In our honest moments, many of us would admit that we do what we do because of a great complex of reasons, not least among these reasons are those related to self-interest: wanting security, wanting power, wanting to be loved, wanting to be admired. But what if we started doing things because of what will be?

It's a strange way to put it, right? Shouldn't we do things because of how we want things to end up? Is it possible to live consistently as an idealist? What do you do when reality hits your dream square in the face? Oh, yeah, and just whose idea of 'what will be' do we listen to?

I believe that things will be a certain way. I believe that God will someday completely answer the prayers of every person who has prayed, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." I believe that this world is headed for a death and resurrection. I believe that what rises as new creation will be a land of goodness, wholeness, gentleness, generosity, and mutuality-and nobody will be in a hurry. I believe that God will bring his life-giving, space-making, voice-giving justice (good news for those who've lived their whole lives at the short end of the stick, bad news for those who've been beating them with the long end).

I believe that there will be so much love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control that there simply won't be room for hatred, envy, malice, impatience, meanness, greed, violence, or self-worship. So why not start now? Wouldn't that be the riskiest thing a person could do in a world where it seems that there is so much hatred, malice, impatience, meanness, greed, violence and self-worship that there doesn't seem to be much room for love, joy, peace, and the rest of their friends? Wouldn't it be the riskiest thing to do to live in anticipation of another possibility-a possibility that might be an eventuality, an eventuality that might be possible in little, beautiful ways right now?

How we live can be a reflection of the future that is on the way. The actions we take can start or contribute to the cycles of destruction (hatred, anger, malice, violence, theft, murder), or they can forge new paths of hope-creating new possibilities for others and ourselves.

Acting in ways that open paths of hope and change is risky. You are saying to powerful people and systems and forces that they are wrong. You are saying that no matter what happens, you will not do violence to stop violence-you will not repay evil with evil. You risk being taken advantage of by those content with selfishness. You risk being rejected by those trapped in fear. You risk being persecuted by the protectors of the status quo.

It is risky to stand up to people and systems that threaten to ruin you if you don't get in line. It is risky to stand alongside people who are being oppressed and say to their oppressors, "You must stop." It is risky to refuse to join in the cycle of violence when violent people raise their hand against you. It is risky to live without asking, "What's in it for me?" It is risky to speak truth to people that don't want to hear it-and especially so to those who think they 'have' it.

We are called to the risky path of turning the other cheek, giving up our shirts and coats, and of carrying the burdens of those who persecute us-not to mention giving to those who ask without any expectation of repayment. We are not called to flash and fame and power and prestige (those may happen to a few of us, and God help you if it does), we are called to be true to the vision we have been given in the time and place into which we have been called and sent. It may mean doing things completely differently from what is expected. It may mean giving up on a dream so you can change it in for a more beautiful one. It may mean doing what we're doing for a long, long time-you know, staying at it when everyone around you thinks you're crazy.

What if our long-range planning went more than ten years out? What if long-range planning meant working through the future that the prophets and poets and seers dreamed about, the future that Paul wrote about, the future that John saw, and the future that Jesus embodied? What if we did things, not because of how we want things to be, but because of the future that God is bringing? What if churches saw a major part of their task as preparing for arrival rather than preparing for departure?

We are called to this risky path of changing the world. Someone said that if nothing changes, then nothing changes. Someone else said that we must become the change we want to see in the world. I say that we have been given a vision of the change that will come and I want to get in on it now. I want to risk absolute failure. I want to risk being taken advantage of. I want to risk being rejected. I want to risk being stepped on by the powerful because of my proximity to the powerless. I want this because I believe that change is coming - because I believe that what will be is what should be and could be now. I want this because I believe that I am not the first or only one who wants this.

Joel McClure is married to his wonderful wife, Torie. He is part of a community of Jesus' apprentices in Hudsonville, MI called Water's Edge. Joel enjoys writing, painting, reading, and hanging out at the various coffee bars in and around Grand Rapids, MI. You can read his blog here >>>.

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